The Twi'lek and the droid
by Stargazing Writer
Summary: Hera heard that Y-wing crash outside her house. She didn't expect that with it would come a new friend. [ONE-SHOT]


**_A/N: I'm not new to Star Wars Rebels, but definitely new to writing it. This is just a small one-shot, exploring the background of two members of the Specters who obviously shared a strong bond, as they knew each other like since forever, Hera and Chopper._****_I read articles on Wookiepedia, and from what I understood, it is implied that Hera found Chopper before her mother died. And I don't really know how old she is when she found him, but probably she was still young, so I assume that she was tween. These are just my speculations and I'm probably wrong._****_There might be grammar and Star Wars vocabulary mistakes here and there._****_Hope you like it ;-) _**

Hera liked to watch the starfighters in the skies of Ryloth. How they were gracefully flying through the air, performing spectacular stunts and dodging enemy fire just to fight back and show what the pilots are capable of.

The young Twi'lek often wondered what was it like. Not being in combat. But what is like to fly.

Launching in the sky and feel the rush of the momentum that comes with it. The peace you're feeling when being up there. Going through the clouds and seeing places you wouldn't see else. And perhaps... Going into hyperspace.

Hera often wondered if she would ever exprerience these feelings. Her father went out there all the time. Of course she couldn't go with him as a battle isn't a safe place for a little one like her to be in.

The Twi'lek had to hide in their household with her mother, and wait until her father came back or at least were informed it that was safe once again. But even in those times, Hera just couldn't help but go outside and just stare at the starfighters in the distance.

She never thought that she would get to see a fighter get downed.

It was one of those times, she had to go into hiding again. The incoming battle would be happening in very close range to the Tann province and anything could happen.

It was a while since Cham had departed to fight once again. He had promised Hera that it wouldn't last long and he would be back before she knew it. She didn't doubt him. Each time he was saying that, he always came back.

The young Twi'lek always admired how skilled of a leader her father was. She always wanted to lead the rebellion. She wanted to be like him.

As Hera was waiting again inside, sneaking in the basement to see if she would find anything interesting, she heard it.

A loud crash.

The green coloured Twi'lek stopped dead in her tracks, stunned by the booming sound. She hadn't heard such a loud crash in her life. It must've been close.

For Hera it was really tempting to go out again and check out what was that, but she couldn't. There was no way her mother would allow her to after this. Curiosity was consuming her every passing moment, but she had no choice but to wait until it was safe again.

It was about around one and half hours later, when Cham entered the house, immediately greeted by his family. He looked very worried.

"I saw that Y-wing crash out of the house, is everyone alright in here?"

So it was a Y-wing.

"Yes, Cham, it doesn't seem to have caused any damage.", Hera's mother responded.

The Twi'lek leader sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."

Hera waited for a while before getting outside. She wanted to make sure that her parents were busy.

The little Twi'lek headed for one of the exits and peaked from it. Her father said that the fighter crashed somewhere close to the house, but nothing was in sight.

Hera walked in the big yard of her home, still trying to prepare for the sight of the wreckage that she would witness fairly soon.

And there it was.

She held her breath in awe, seeing the wrecked Y-wing. Many of it's pieces were scattered here and there across the yard, but other than that, most of it made it to the ground in one piece.

She carefully neared it, taking in every detail of what she was seeing. The cannons, the engines, they looked as they would normally would, just not functional anymore. This one wouldn't fly again.

Hera, wanting to take a closer look at the cockpit, peaked from the sides of it. She then flinched eying the dead body of the pilot and stepped back. Still startled, she decided that she would be investigating the specific area of the ship another time.

For the moment, the Twi'lek kept looking over, until she spotted something interesting.

Close to the cockpit was the droid socket. It seems that the pilot had a companion in his flight.

The droid seemed damaged, but still functional. It must have shut down in the crash.

Hera tried slightly tapping it but it didn't respond. Cautiously climbing on the wreck, she looked over it, waving her hand in front of the photoreceptors. Yep, it was deactivated.

The Twi'lek girl got a good grasp on the droid and began pulling it out. It was pretty heavy. Too heavy for a small individual to carry, but she kept trying.

When she finally pulled it out, it's weight made Hera stumble backwards, while trying to keep from falling off. But it happened anyways, both astromech and Twi'lek falling off the wreck, the latter having her finding right on top of her.

Somewhat hurt from the impact on the ground and the droid putting big pressure on her, Hera didn't bother to move for a few moments. When she realized that the weight was crushing her, she put all her might to push it off.

When she did so, she catched her breath from all the effort she just put to pulling the droid out of the wreck. She got on her feet and checked over it. It was mostly gray like the majority of droids, and it's dome was painted orange with patches being yellow.

Surprisingly, it seemed to be nearly completely intact. That must be good. Hera didn't really know much about repairing droids at the time, but it can't be that hard. Right?

Sneaking back inside, and pretending she was going to her room, went to the basement as she was originally planning before the crash happened. There, getting some tool set, headed back to where she left the droid.

Hera knelt in front of the astromech, wondering what she had to do to fix it. A panel was hanging open, the small antenna on top of the dome was partly destroyed... Other damage wasn't visible and must be in the inside.

The panel wouldn't be too hard to repair. The antenna might as well have to be replaced.

After a while of fixing what she could and locating further damage, Hera eventually turned on the droid. It made a whirring sound as it rouse and rotating it's dome in confusion.

When his photoreceptors fell on the Twi'lek, he exposed his mechanical arms trying to make a theatening move in defense.

"Whoa, calm down! I rescued you from the wreck."

With that, the orange droid paused beeping in distress, processing what he just heard. Wreck? It turned to look behind him. The Y-wing he once flew along with his pilot was now destroyed.

He just stared at it, not knowing how to react. So many mixed feelings... None of them positive. The droid made some low sounds, lowering it's own body as well. He was... grieving?

"Uhm... Are you alright?", Hera asked from behind.

He didn't respond.

"Hera? What are you doing here?", Cham's voice got heard.

The younger Twi'lek turned at him instantly. Now she had to find an explaination on what was she doing there without anyone watching over her activities.

He then notices the astromech.

"Is that?..."

"The droid from the wreck. I pulled it out.", she replies, trying to make her answer as plain as possible.

Cham wasn't sure about how to respond. He didn't know if he was supposed to be angry that his daughter disobeyed him on not going anywhere without being watched over, proud in a way that she took such a initiative, or...

One thing is sure, he definitely was relieved.

"I think the droid needs some time alone right now..."

Father and daughter started walking back in the house, Hera throwing another glance at the astromech. She was reluctant at leaving it. That just didn't feel right.

Just seconds before the Twi'lek entered, she felt something bump into her. She looked back to see the astromech. She didn't say something, but just smiled. That was enough to describe how she felt.

"Welcome home."

When they were back in her room, Hera cleaned the droid from any ashes and dirt, as he would be staying with them now.

"What should we call you?"

Her new friend beeped something in binary. From the little she understood, he said something about a number. She then noticed this small detail she just uncovered.

"C1-10P"

He beeped in response.

"Hm... I got something else in mind. How about Chopper?"

C1-10P made sort of a grumbling sound.

"Come on."

He still wasn't impressed.

"Admit it. You like it."

The astromech surrendered in the little Twi'lek's request.

"I knew it. Chopper it is."


End file.
